Selected IPEAD Working Papers by Research Theme and UN SDGs 

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Notice: This page is currently under construction. We kindly ask for your understanding and patience. (Note: The working papers listed below represent a selective compilation of IPEAD Working Papers chosen specifically from the overall collection.)

1. Health, Care & Medical Institutions

Primary UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being (Palliative care, dementia care, and end-of-life dignity)

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Ethical and institutional governance of AI technologies in healthcare)

Featured Papers

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2025). AI, Palliative Care, and End-of-Life Transitions: A Veblenian Analysis of Relational Futures. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–17.

  • Core Focus: Examines the relational and institutional implications of integrating AI into palliative care and end-of-life transitions through a critical Veblenian lens.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2025). Dementia Care and the Institutional Conditions of Human Dignity: Memory, Family Relations and the Political Economy of Care. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–24.

  • Core Focus: Investigates the political economy of care, focusing on dementia care infrastructure, family dynamics, and the institutional parameters necessary to preserve human dignity.

2. Gender, Family & Care Economy

Primary UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 5: Gender Equality (Unpaid care work, structural gender divisions, and institutional constraints on women)

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth (Socio-economic barriers to family formation and sustainable labor practices)

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities (Addressing unequal access to care systems and family sustainability)

Featured Papers

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2024). When Family Becomes a Luxury: Family Formation, Institutional Constraints and the Gendered Political Economy of Care. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 1–20.

  • Core Focus: Analyzes how socio-economic and institutional barriers render family formation a luxury, evaluating the structural gender dynamics embedded in the care economy.

3. Ecology, Biodiversity & the Commons (Energy & Food Systems)

Primary UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production (Thermodynamic entropy, sustainable resource management, and critique of market predation)

• SDG 13: Climate Action (Institutional political ecology and systemic environmental degradation)

• SDG 15: Life on Land (Biodiversity preservation and collective ecological knowledge systems)

• (Applicable Frameworks for SDG 2: Zero Hunger & SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy through commons management and thermodynamic constraints)

Featured Papers

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2026). Evolutionary Contingency and the Institutional Conditions of Coexistence: Biodiversity and Collective Knowledge in an Ecologically Responsible Political Economy. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 1–26.

  • Core Focus: Explores evolutionary contingency and collective knowledge systems as prerequisite conditions for ecological stewardship and biodiversity preservation.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2021). Laissez-Faire as Institutionalised Predation: A Veblenian Reading of Self-Organisation, Entropy, and the Erosion of the Commons. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 1–13.

  • Core Focus: Critiques laissez-faire capitalism as institutionalised predation, utilizing concepts of physical entropy and Veblenian institutionalism to explain the degradation of natural and social commons.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2021). Systems Theory through a Veblenian Lens: Political Ecology, Institutional Power, and the Political Economy of Self-Organisation. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1–12.

  • Core Focus: Deconstructs systems theory and political ecology, highlighting the role of institutional power in shaping social and ecological self-organization.

4. Education, Knowledge & Socialization

Primary UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 4: Quality Education (Institutional transmission of knowledge, legal literacy, and critical social awareness)

• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities (Deconstructing institutional and legal classifications that perpetuate structural inequality)

• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (Analysis of legal frameworks and institutional authority)

Featured Papers

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2026). When Classifications Acquire Institutional Force: Knowledge and Law in the Institutional Reproduction of Inequality. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 1–21.

  • Core Focus: Analyzes how legal categorizations and formal knowledge systems gain institutional authority to systematically reproduce structural inequalities.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2016). Kinship and the Limits of Biological Reductionism: Ancient DNA, Institutional Mediation, and the Re-socialisation of Relatedness. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1–13.

  • Core Focus: Rebuts genetic reductionism in ancient DNA studies, emphasizing the necessity of institutional mediation and social frameworks in defining human relatedness.

5. Additional Institutional Domains: Digital Agency, Political Economy & Social Theory

Digital Life & Agency

• Primary UN SDGs: SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 16 (Strong Institutions and Human Agency)

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2024). Digital Experience and the Institutional Conditions of Human Agency. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 1–19.

Critique of Neoliberalism & Corporate Power

• Primary UN SDGs: SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2026). Neoliberalism Beyond Free Markets: A Veblenian Critique of Monopoly, Corporate Power, and Market Ideology. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–13.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2026). Evolutionary Explanations of Consumption and Their Institutional Limits. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–27.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2018). Alternatives to Capitalism, Democracy at Work, and the Veblenian Critique of Corporate Power. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 1–21.

Affect, Culture & Historical Transformations

• Primary UN SDGs: SDG 3 (Good Health and Mental Well-being), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2025). Negative Emotions and Institutional Life. IPEAD Working Paper Series B: Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (EPP), Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 1–26.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2023). Sport Capitalism, Desire, and Institutional Entrenchment. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 1–15.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2020). The Emotional Political Economy of Crisis. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 1–12.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2020). Revolution and Backlash: A Historical Political Economy of Compressed Modernity. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1–11.

• Kho, Mu-Jeong (2017). Thinking Twice, Seeing Institutions: Rational Judgment, Error Reduction, and Veblenian Critique. IPEAD Working Paper Series A: New Methodenstreit - Institutional Analysis in Political Economy (IAPE), Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1–12.